First things first; these sessions were all made and released under Byrd's leadership. I suspect that the opportunistic folk at Jazz Images have co-opted in Hancock's name as these days he's far better known. What you get, in essence, are two classic 1961 Blue Notes – Royal Flush and The Cat Walk – a fairly obscure Warwick album produced by Teddy Charles (who sits in on one track) and – possibly the best of the lot – an energised live take of ‘Hush’ so groovy that it comes on like a long lost cousin of Georgie Fame's Rhythm and Blues at The Flamingo. The leader was in transition at this point, halfway between his 1950s Brownie-isms and the reduced Milesian mode he'd hit upon circa 1966. And while he can still dance lightly through the toughest of tempos (dig the amped-up ‘Cute’), it's his ballads that register best; ‘I'm A Fool To Want You’ is pure heartstring stuff, while on ‘It's A Beautiful Evening’ he edges into Art Farmer territory (try this on your friends and see if they can guess who they're listening to). For these ears, the star of the show(s) is Pepper Adams, who weighs in with inventive contributions whatever the tempo. As for the young Hancock, listeners who only know his work with Miles and beyond may be shocked to hear him in a purely hard-bop setting. He sounds utterly at home, of course, a little like a more ‘modern’ Hank Jones at times. There's also a nice bit of jazz history hand-off in hearing him play with two other Miles’ ‘discoveries’, Philly Joe Jones and Jimmy Cobb. All in all, a nice primer for those who may only think of Byrd and Hancock as jazz funksters.